CAC Wirraway
| Wirraway | |
|---|---|
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|
| Role | Trainer/general purpose |
| Manufacturer | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation |
| First flight | 1937 (see Development) |
| Introduction | 1939 |
| Retired | 1959 |
| Primary users |
Royal Australian Air Force Royal Australian Navy |
| Produced | 1939–1946 |
| Number built | 755 |
| Developed from | North American NA-16 |
| Developed into | CAC Boomerang |
The CAC Wirraway (an Aboriginal word meaning "challenge") was a training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) between 1939 and 1946. The aircraft was an Australian development of the North American NA-16 training aircraft.
During World War II, the Wirraway saw action, in a makeshift light bomber/ground attack capacity, against Japanese forces. It was also the starting point for the design of an "emergency fighter", the CAC Boomerang.
Three Royal Australian Air Force officers, led by Wing Commander Lawrence Wackett, were sent on an overseas evaluation mission in 1936 to select an aircraft type for local production in Australia. The aircraft selected was the North American Aviation (NAA) NA-16. Production licences were obtained in 1937 and two NA-16s were purchased from North American Aviation to act as prototypes. The first of these two aircraft was the fixed undercarriage NA-16-1A (similar in design to the BT-9); the second was the retractable undercarriage NA-16-2K (similar to the BC-1). These two aircraft were also known by their NAA project accounting codes (NA-32 for the NA-16-1A and NA-33 for the NA-16-2K) sometimes leading to confusion. These accounting codes (or "charge" codes) were used internally by NAA to track their projects and were not the actual aircraft model numbers. The NA-16-1A arrived in Australia in August 1937 and following assembly flew for the first time at Laverton on 3 September of that year, exactly two years before war was declared on Nazi Germany by the United Kingdom and France. The NA-16-2K arrived in Australia in September 1937 and likewise flew shortly afterwards. These aircraft were given the RAAF serials A20-1 and A20-2 within that organisation's numbering system.
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